1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to providing temporary access to content. More particularly, the present invention relates to managing access to content on a temporary basis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Internet commerce has become an increasingly popular form of commerce in the United States and throughout the world. In general, Internet-based commerce, often referred to as e-commerce, provides advantages to both suppliers and consumers. E-commerce provides vendors and service providers the ability to greatly increase their sales channel and distribution network with minimal cost. An Internet commerce site provides a convenient, effective, and secure mechanism for potential buyers to browse, select, and purchase goods or services in an easy and simple fashion.
One class of sites that have seen a tremendous increase in popularity online are so-called “e-tailers”. E-tailers are retail stores that sell products via the Internet and world wide web (“the web”). One particularly popular example of an online retailer is amazon.com®. Many e-tailers have been particularly successful selling items such as books, video tapes, compact disks, DVDs, and computer software (collectively referred to herein as “content” or “content items”).
While e-tailers provide customers with the convenience of shopping online, they also suffer some drawbacks when compared with traditional “brick-and-mortar” stores. One such disadvantage is the time that the customer must wait to receive the goods purchased. If the customer is anxious to begin enjoying an item she is about to purchase, the customer is unlikely to use an e-tailer. Instead, the customer is more likely to go to her local brick-and-mortar retailer to purchase the item and begin enjoying it immediately. This problem is particularly keen with impulse purchases such as entertainment items and content items. For example, a customer may hear a song on the radio and decide to purchase that song. Once the purchasing decision has been made, most customers would like to listen to the compact disk immediately it is likely that the customer will want to listen to compact disk as soon as possible. Similarly, a person buying a book is likely to want to begin to read the book as soon as possible. Currently, the only alternative to brick-and-mortar stores for “instant” gratification is to pay higher shipping fees to reduce the wait by a few days. Since shipping costs may already be prohibitive for relatively inexpensive products such as content items, this is not always a satisfactory solution.
Thus, as system and method for reducing the amount of time a purchaser must wait to enjoy content items once they are purchased is desired.